Core Academic Skills Assessment Reading: Key Ideas and Details 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A passage about sleep research states: 'REM sleep is associated with vivid dreaming. Studies show that during REM, the brain processes emotional memories. Disrupting REM sleep impairs emotional regulation the following day.' Which title best captures the main idea?
- Why Dreaming Makes You Happy
- REM Sleep and Its Critical Role in Emotional Memory Processing (Correct answer)
- How to Improve Your Sleep Schedule
- The Stages of Sleep Explained
Correct answer: REM Sleep and Its Critical Role in Emotional Memory Processing
The passage specifically focuses on REM sleep's function in processing emotional memories, making that the central idea.
Question 2: Passage: 'Critics praised the novel's vivid imagery and complex characters. However, some readers found the nonlinear timeline confusing. Despite mixed reviews, the book sold over two million copies.' Which sentence expresses a detail rather than the main idea?
- The novel received both praise and criticism from different audiences.
- Critics praised the novel's imagery and complex characters. (Correct answer)
- Despite mixed reactions, the book achieved commercial success.
- The novel's reception was divided but ultimately commercially successful.
Correct answer: Critics praised the novel's imagery and complex characters.
The praise for imagery and characters is a specific supporting detail, while the main idea is that the novel had mixed but ultimately commercially successful reception.
Question 3: Read: 'In 2019, over 8 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean. Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and consume them. Microplastics have been detected in fish tissue consumed by humans.' What is the most reasonable inference about the author's purpose?
- To explain how sea turtles navigate ocean currents
- To highlight the wide-ranging negative impact of plastic pollution on ecosystems and human health (Correct answer)
- To argue that humans should stop eating fish entirely
- To describe the manufacturing process of plastic products
Correct answer: To highlight the wide-ranging negative impact of plastic pollution on ecosystems and human health
The progression from ocean plastic volume, to wildlife impact, to human health effects signals the author's intent to show plastic pollution's broad harmful reach.
Question 4: A passage reads: 'Ancient Romans built roads so durable that some are still intact today. Engineers used layers of sand, gravel, and stone with a slightly curved surface to drain rainwater.' Which detail directly supports the claim that Roman roads were built to last?
- Romans used sand as one of the road materials.
- Some Roman roads remain intact thousands of years later. (Correct answer)
- The roads had a slightly curved surface design.
- Roman engineers were trained in construction techniques.
Correct answer: Some Roman roads remain intact thousands of years later.
The fact that some roads remain intact today is direct evidence supporting the durability claim made in the first sentence.
Question 5: Read this passage: 'In the 1800s, doctors frequently washed their hands only after surgery, not before. Ignaz Semmelweis proposed that handwashing before procedures could save lives, but his idea was ridiculed. Only after Pasteur's germ theory gained acceptance did handwashing become standard.' What does the passage imply about scientific progress?
- Scientific breakthroughs are always immediately accepted by the medical community.
- Pasteur discovered handwashing before Semmelweis proposed it.
- New medical ideas often face resistance before being validated by broader scientific understanding. (Correct answer)
- Surgeons in the 1800s were less intelligent than modern doctors.
Correct answer: New medical ideas often face resistance before being validated by broader scientific understanding.
The passage shows that Semmelweis's correct idea was rejected until germ theory provided a framework for understanding it, implying resistance to new ideas is common.
Question 6: A paragraph begins: 'Not all renewable energy sources are created equal.' The sentences that follow discuss water requirements, land use, and intermittency of solar and wind power. What is the function of the opening sentence?
- It provides statistical evidence about energy production rates.
- It introduces a contrast that the rest of the paragraph will develop. (Correct answer)
- It summarizes the conclusion drawn from the following details.
- It defines what renewable energy means for readers.
Correct answer: It introduces a contrast that the rest of the paragraph will develop.
The opening sentence signals that despite being in the same category, renewable sources differ — a contrast that the following details elaborate on.
Question 7: Passage: 'The Amazon rainforest produces about 20% of the world's oxygen and houses 10% of all species on Earth. Deforestation rates have accelerated in recent years, with millions of acres cleared annually. Scientists warn of a tipping point beyond which the forest cannot regenerate.' Which statement is best supported by the passage?
- The Amazon will be completely destroyed within the next decade.
- Deforestation of the Amazon poses serious risks to global biodiversity and atmospheric oxygen. (Correct answer)
- Replanting trees can fully reverse the damage caused by deforestation.
- The Amazon only matters to countries in South America.
Correct answer: Deforestation of the Amazon poses serious risks to global biodiversity and atmospheric oxygen.
The passage establishes the Amazon's global significance (oxygen, biodiversity) and then links deforestation to the risk of irreversible damage, supporting this conclusion.
Core Academic Skills Assessment Reading: Key Ideas and Details 3
A passage about sleep research states: 'REM sleep is associated with vivid dreaming.
Studies show that during REM, the brain processes emotional memories.
Disrupting REM sleep impairs emotional regulation the following day.' Which title best captures the main idea?